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The contradictions in Ram’s character- Did Valmiki write them?Ramayana is ingrained in the minds of anyone born in India. It appears in textbooks, stories, conversations, media and movies. It forms a reference point of our cultural bedrock, giving us epitomes of virtues in Ram and Sita. Ram is a virtuous son, brother, student, king and human being. Yet Ram’s character becomes paradoxical when the dhobi (washer man) appears in his court and raises a question on his decision to take back his wife Sita, who had lived in Ravana’s confines for a long period. Despite his trust on the chastity of his wife, Ram sends her away in a pregnant state. Lakshmana was asked to drop her out of the boundaries of his kingdom.Why he never left his kingdom to go with his wife who had happily sacrificed the comforts of Ayodhya’s palaces to be with him in his exile. (When he was banished at the behest of his stepmother Kekayi.)Why Ram, who had pledged monogamy with Sita, Ram who had waged a massive war to bring her back, defeating an adversary as powerful as Ravana, let her go so easily? This seems especially odd because he salvaged Ahilya, Gautam maharishi’s cursed wife. Ramayana tells that Rama’s touch turned her from non-living rock to living Ahilya again. (Indra had impersonated her husband to seduce her. Ahilya turned into a rock and was to be absolved of her guilt, only when a true virtuous man touched her.) If Ram was so forgiving to saints presumably tainted wife, what happened when his own was in question?Liberation of Ahalya- by Raja Ravi VarmaLiberation of Ahalya- by Raja Ravi VarmaThese questions have always crossed my mind and made me debate the poetic justice Valmiki’s creation.Another paradoxIn the Uttar Ramayan the seventh and last chapter, the story appears in four sections (Sargas).Rama asking Shambhuka to stop his penance with a sword in his hand. Persian copy of RamayanRama beheaded Shambhuka for his penance- seen with a sword in his hand. Persian copy of RamayanSarga (73): When Ram was reigning as a virtuous king; a humble Brahmin came to him, weeping, with his dead son in his arms. He accused that Rama must have committed some sin, or else his son would not have died before his time.Sarga (74): The sage Narada explained to Rama that a Shudra was practicing penances, and this was the cause of the child’s death.Sarga (75): Rama went on a tour of inspection in his flying chariot (Pushpak vimaan), and found an ascetic doing austerities while hanging upside down from, and asked who he was.Sarga (76): Hearing the inquiring words of Ram, the ascetic, his head still hanging downwards answered: “O Ram, I was born of a Shudra alliance and I am performing this rigorous penance in order to conquer the heavens”. As soon as Ram heard this he killed Shambhuk, death at Rama’s honourable hands, granted Shambuk Moksha.I chanced upon a story of Rama’s killing of Shambhuk, a low caste man for adopting the ways of Brahmins, forbidden for people of his origin. It revealed another paradox in the character of Ram. The reference appears in the Persian copy of Ramayana as a distinct visual of Shambhuk and Ram.This is confusing since I have grown up listening to how Ram had gratefully accepted Shabari’s (a tribal, Bheel lady) Jujube berries, after she had tasted them herself. How he had been amused to hear Kevat (boatman) fuss that if the mud from his feet, had made a rock turn into a woman (Ahilya), it might make his boat disappear too. He had agreed to Kevat’s condition of getting his feet washed before climbing his boat. He made friends with the Vanaras (monkey like arboreal tribal) to declare a war on Lanka. Why would he then, kill a sage just because he was born out of a low caste?Kevat allowed Ram to enter his boat only after washing his feet.- oil on Canvas by Raja Ravi VarmaKevat allowed Ram to enter his boat only after washing his feet.- oil on Canvas by Raja Ravi VarmaCriticism of Ram’s actionWhen I read several opinions on this story, I found:There is criticism that Ram killed Shambuka because of his birth as a Shudra for maintenance of caste system, which is an important feature of Hindu Dharma.Brahmin logic argues that Shambuka was killed for conducting penance with a motive of attaining a celestial power with his mortal body. It is particularly forbidden (e.g. story of Trishanku) in Hindu mythology to aspire for entering heaven with a material body. This is a selfish motive for which penance is not to be performed.The celebrated Kannada poet Kuvempu, in his play Shudra Tapasvi shows Ram as having to both carry out his duty by punishing Shambuka, and simultaneously protecting Shambuka, as a pious and devout sage, from persecution, and thereby turns the story into a critique of Brahminical attitudes and a defense ofContradiction with basic Hindu textsThere are several references in Ramayana and Mahabharata about equality of all castes.In Ayodhya kand (63/50-55) shlokas mention all castes like the Vaishyas and Shudras have as much right as the Brahmins to read the Ramayana.In Geeta (9/32) Krishna has quoted that Vaishyas and Shudras, or women even in occupation of prostitution, have right to seek me, when they do so, I promise to grant them salvation.In the Yaksha Yudhishthir dialogue in Mahabharata (canto 313/108-109) Yudhishthir replies it is the behaviour and not the birth, knowledge or spiritual practice that makes a person superior or twice born learner a Brahmin.So I reach my previous conclusion that the original texts do not differentiate on the basis of gender or caste, on the path of salvation. Valmiki himself was a robber of travellers before he met Narada, who inspired him to seek dharma and attain liberation. His description of Shabri, a low caste Bheelni is of a Sadhvi. That means the time original Ramayana was written, there was no resistance to penance on basis of gender or caste.Modification of RamayanaThe finding made me dig further and I found that the story’s original version in Sanskrit is known as Valmiki Ramayana, book two to six form the oldest portion of the epic, while the Bala kanda and Uttara kanda, are later additions. There is no mention of Sita’s banishment or Shambhuk till book six. The author or authors of bala kanda and uttara kanda have matched it very well to the prevailing happenings. The geographical and geopolitical data coincides with what is known about the region of Eastern Gangetic basin and the Kosala and Magadha region.There is doubt as to whether the first and the last chapters of Valmiki’s Ramayana, were composed by the original author Valmiki himself. Most Hindus still believe they are integral parts of the book, yet there are some style differences and narrative contradictions between these two chapters and the rest of the book. While it is often viewed as a primarily devotional text, the Vaishnava elements appear to be later additions, possibly dating to the 2nd century BCE or later. The main body of the narrative lacks statements of Ram‘s divinity, and identifications of Ram with Vishnu are rare and subdued even in the later parts of the text.Another logical mismatchThere is another minor contradiction in the original Ramayan and Uttar kand that Pushpak Vimaan is said to have returned to Kuber in Lanka kand (127/62) but Uttar kand mentions that Ram flew in it to search for Shambhuk much later.According to Hindu tradition, the Ramayana happened during a period of time known as Treta Yuga, second of the four eons (yuga) of Hindu chronology. The Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa is dated from 500 BC to 100 BC. As with many traditional epics, it has gone through a process of interpolations and redactions, making it impossible to date accurately. The text survives in several partial and complete manuscripts, the oldest of which is a palm-leaf manuscript found in Nepal and dated to the 11th century CE.To quote my learned friend Prema Raghuraman, Rig Veda and other early ancient texts, do not mention caste or gender discrimination. In the Early Vedic periods, there was no restriction on performance of rituals or reading of scriptures on anyone. In fact, women were encouraged to participate in the same learning activities as their male counterparts like religious discussions/debates. The Upanayanam ceremony was performed for women too. Examples are sited are given for Vidhyottama, Gargi, Maitrayi and other luminaries, who dazzled public with their knowledge. It was only during the later Vedic periods, that Brahmanical superiority was exerted. It was also the time when occupational groups degenerated into the caste system with its attendant emphasis on birth and related occupations.Probably during the middle ages, the Brahmins were going through their own crisis period. There was stagnation and resources were scant. To maintain their unquestioned supremacy, Brahmins began exclusion of women and lower castes from the choices, privileges, right to education and spiritual practices. Therefore they adapted the popular texts to perpetuate these values. The two segments of society were shown subverted to priests and kings. Banishment of Sita and killing of Shambhuk are therefore not logically or poetically in tandem with Valmiki’s original text and seem like doctored versions of Ramayana.